Bulgaria ended January 2011 with a budget deficit of BGN 477.3 million, slightly below the BGN 499.1 million gap registered in the same month of the previous year, the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Budget receipts came in at BGN 1.675 billion in the period, down by BGN 74 million on the year, while expenditures dropped by BGN 96 million to BGN 2.152 billion.

Excise duty collection fell by 26% in annual terms to BGN 323 million in the period, with inflows from cigarettes coming in at BGN 137 million of the total against BGN 320 million in January 2010.

The lower revenue from excise duties on cigarettes was partially offset by a 50% increase in excise levied on fuels, which made up BGN 159.3 million in January against BGN 101.7 million a year ago.

Almost unchanged from 2010 were value-added tax (VAT) receipts of BGN 470 million and revenues from corporate and personal income tax amounting to BGN 57 million and BGN 151 million, respectively(Dnevnik)